To assess the driver strength of DIMMs in high performance high speed server systems, in prior art systems, there is a need to probe at the chip pad interface while the device is in operation. A DIMM, or a Dual In-line Memory Module, is one popular type of memory module. The DIMM is a rectangular low-profile circuit board that has electrical contact points arranged on both sides along one long edge. The contact points form electrical connections to the main board's memory bus when the DIMM is inserted into a DIMM memory socket. Today, there is the ability to measure at the pin of the chip or memory controller to assess the drive strength. (A memory controller is a chip on a computer's motherboard or CPU die which manages the flow of data going to and from the memory.) The disadvantage in using this kind of approach is that the trace itself produces unwanted stub loading into the probe and signal under test. (Stub loading on the main bus can be caused by excessively long stubs and/or stubs terminated in low impedances and can load down the main bus and result in transmission line reflections, and therefore waveform distortions.) This can have the effect of increasing the bit error rate for terminals receiving data on the bus, or in extreme circumstances, cause terminals to stop receiving completely. Another disadvantage is the uncertainty in being able to repeat the measurement consistently.
Multiple time probing can result in damaging the BGA pins. (A ball grid array (BGA) is a type of surface-mount packaging used for integrated circuits.) Use of sophisticated probe stations is one way to over come this limitation, but probe stations that provide this kind of measurement capability are expensive and cost 100s of thousands of dollars.
There is currently a need for inexpensive test jig for assessing DIMM strength. (A jig is an adapter for connecting electronic devices to a service and maintenance system for testing, debugging and firmware update purposes.)